For all the Licorice Pizza faithful fans, and those soon to be…here’s how the story goes!
A little ditty about one man’s passion for music: In 1969, Jim Greenwood happened to catch a sketch on a live album, recorded at the Santa Monica Civic, by 60s San Francisco-based folk duo Bud and Travis, joking about recording an album that they could cover with sesame seeds so that if the album didn’t sell, you could buy it at your local “A&P” Feed store as a “licorice pizza.” Hence, the first Licorice Pizza store was born! As interesting and boggling as his inspiration to name the store Licorice Pizza is, it pales in comparison to his stay-true-to-yourself, mom-and-pop mentality foresight, do-it-because-you-love it, and that others love it, ethics (and, perhaps, not to be dictated by the changing times of businesses being conducted by the foolhardy, get rich quick, “Almighty dollar” mongers) to create a place for all to come and share his love for music. The concept was so basic: All are welcome! Bring the kids, the dog, grandma and enjoy the music. There were headphones set up throughout the store where he welcomed everyone with open arms to enjoy and stay for as long as the store was opened — with absolutely no pressure to purchase a thing! He proved that his approach to business was right on as he eventually went on to successfully expand to eleven stores!
One of those stores was located in San Diego, California, where a young Gary Trousdale and his posse, cruising on their bikes, just happened to stumble onto the store, and from then, I don’t think they ever left!
Now, an adult, reminiscing about those glory days, Gary Googled “Licorice Pizza.” And just waiting for him all these years was Licorice Pizza, up for grabs! The rest will be history. Stay tuned. You do not want to miss this!
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